Political Developments and Unrests in Stara Raška (Old Rascia) and Old Herzegovina During Ottoman Rule
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Radenko Šćekić DOI: 10.2298/BALC1546079S Original scholarly work Žarko Leković http://www.balcanica.rs Historical Institute of Montenegro Podgorica Marijan Premović Faculty of Philosophy Nikšić Political Developments and Unrests in Stara Raška (Old Rascia) and Old Herzegovina during Ottoman Rule Abstract: During the centuries of Ottoman rule the Tara and Lim river valleys (or Potarje and Polimlje respectively), the Pešter Plateau and Old Herzegovina saw much turbulence, wars, rebellions, population migrations. This chaotic situation was combined with the arbitrary and repressive conduct of local Ottoman feudal lords. Migrations, interethnic contacts and mixing of populations as well as an intensified Islamization process caused by a number of factors greatly complicated the situation. Albanian northward penetration along the Lim and into Pešter as well as the expan- sion of the Vasojevići tribe into the Upper Lim valley added to the complexity of the ethnic and demographic picture of the region. Perpetual rebellions against the Otto- man occupation eventually led to the liberation of the Serbian Orthodox population of these areas. Keywords: Stara Raška (Old Rascia), Brda (Highlands), Old Herzegovina, Ottoman Empire, rebellions, migrations Introduction or the sake of clarity let us first define some terms used in this article. Stara Raška (Old Rascia) is the old name for the area between the riv- ersF Drina and Ibar, the Tara and Zapadna (West) Morava. The backbone of the area is the river Lim, Pešter Plateau and Mt Zlatar. The area was the nucleus of Serbian statehood and culture both in the middle ages and later, and it has been known as a “link” connecting Serb-inhabited areas. Brda or Highlands is the old name for the area of present-day Montenegro between the rivers Lim and Tara in the north and the rivers Zeta and Morača in the south. It encompassed the tribal territories of Bjelopavlići, Piperi, Rovčani, Moračani, Kuči, Bratonožići and Vasojevići. The name became established in the eighteenth century for the areas of those highland tribes that did * [email protected] 80 Balcanica XLVI (2015) not manage to unite with the semi-autonomous region known as Nahiye Montenegro. In his History of Montenegro of 1754, the Montenegrin ruler and metropolitan Vasilije Petrović Njegoš describes the river Morača as the boundary between Montenegro and Brda. Piperi and Bjelopavlići united with the semi-autonomous Montenegrin state in 1779 de facto and in 1796 formally. By 1878 all Brda tribes were integrated within the Principality of Montenegro. Until the conquest of Buda in 1541, the Ottoman Empire’s Balkan possessions formed part of the eyalet of Rumelia with its centre in So- fia, and subsequently were divided into several newly-established eyalets (pashaliks). Pashaliks were subdivided into sanjaks, and these into smaller subdivisions such as kazas and nahiyes and administrative areas adminis- tered by mutesellims. Judicial districts, kadiliks, were considerably larger than nahiyes. Urban settlements were classified by importance and size into sehers, pazars and kasabas. By the end of the fifteenth century Ottoman rule in the Lim Polim( - lje) and Tara (Potarje) river valleys had been consolidated.1 The process of consolidation was accompanied by the construction or renovation of towns and fortresses which were to serve as administrative and military centres. The town of Brskovo had been taken in 1399, Bihor in 1455. In 1530 the Bihor garrison held eight timars, and the town developed and became the centre of the kadilik of Bihor. Livestock breeders in the area between the rivers Piva and Tara and in the Middle Lim valley were organized into the nahiye of Nikšići or Limski Nikšići.2 It was registered as a nahiye within the landholding of Isa Bey Isaković. The Upper Lim valley at first was incorpo- rated into the sanjak of Prizren.3 Tarski Nikšići encompassed several villages gravitating towards the river Tara.4 It may be assumed with much certainty that the Kuči tribe recognized Ottoman authority after the fall of the forti- fied town of Medun in 1457, and that Ottoman rule in Zeta and Brda was consolidated after the conquest of Scutari. 1 In the fifteenth century in these regions the construction of tribal society began on the ruins of the medieval Serbian feudal system. The organization of Ottoman rule in the tribal areas was based on lower self-governing units: nahija, knežina and village. Cf. Branislav Djurdjev, “Postanak i razvitak brdskih, crnogorskih i hercegovačkih plemena” (Titograd: CANU, 1984), 156. 2 Hazim Šabanović, Bosanski pašaluk (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1959), 34. 3 Miomir Dašić, Vasojevići od pomena do 1860. godine (Belgrade: Narodna knjiga, 1986), 99. 4 E.g. the villages of Tvrtkovici, Bistrica, Stričina, Bobanovići, Gojakovići, Bratojevići, Zorojevići, Kulizići, Lepenac, Obod, Cer, Ravna Reka. Cf. Žarko Šćepanović, “Pregled prošlosti Bijelog Polja i okoline do 1918. godine”, in Bijelo Polje (Belgrade: Stručna knjiga, 1987), 105. R. Šćekić, Ž. Leković & M. Premović, Political Developments 81 Territorial expansion of Montenegro After the Ottoman conquest the town of Pljevlja was renamed Tasli- ja. The Slavic name Bijelo Polje was translated into Ottoman Turkish and so it figures in Ottoman administrative and court documents as Akova. Over time it developed as an extension of better-known Nikolj-pazar.5 During the seventeenth century it grew into a major commercial centre of Bihor, and in the eighteenth century had the status of a kasaba (palanka, varoš). Documents of 1707 and 1717 already refer to the fortress of Akova, its garrison and commanding cadre. In 1707 its military commander was Cap- tain Suleiman Agha, and later documents make mention of the kadi of Bijelo Polje.6 The Orthodox merchants of the economically well-developed commercial quarter of Bijelo Polje had good commercial connections and traded in wax, hides, wool, livestock and furs. They would take their goods to the markets of Scutari and Dubrovnik (Ragusa), and return with weapons, clothing and copper. It has been estimated that their share of the wool im- 5 I. Stijepčević and R. Kovijanić, “Prvi pomeni Nikolj-pazara i Bijelog Polja”, Istorijski zapisi 7.10 (Cetinje 1954), 610–611. 6 Istorija Crne Gore, vol. III (Titograd: Istorijski institut, 1975), 519. 82 Balcanica XLVI (2015) ported into Dubrovnik in the eighteenth century was at least ten per cent.7 The nahiye of Komarani was in the Middle Lim valley, occupying most of today’s Bijelo Polje and Prijepolje areas.8 Budimlja was from the beginning of Ottoman rule the centre of the eponymous nahiye and kadilik, as well as the seat of an Orthodox bishopric. In 1477 it was referred to as being situated in the sanjak of Herzegovina, in the kadilik which had its seat at Prijepolje. Somewhat later, it was incorpo- rated into the sanjak of Prizren, and in the seventeenth century became the seat of a kadilik.9 In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sources it figures as a pazar, or market place. Retaining a rural character, it never became developed enough to be granted the status of a kasaba and eventually lost all importance and was reduced to an ordinary village.10 There were in the Upper Lim valley three nahiyes: Budimlje (or Komnin), Plav and Zla Rijeka (or Zlorečica). Upon the establishment of the sanjak of Scutari, the nahiye of Budimlja, the abovementioned nahiyes and the nahiye of Komarani con- stituted the kaza of Bihor. At the end of the seventeenth century the kadi of Prijepolje had jurisdiction over Budimlja and the nahiye of Vraneš. There- fore Budimlja belonged to the sanjak of Herzegovina at the time, and later, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, to that of Scutari.11 Rožaj (Trgovište) figures as a fortification in the first half of the -sev enteenth century, and in the eighteenth century as a strong, heavily garri- soned fortress, especially during the Austro-Ottoman war of 1718–1739.12 The town of Plav was built in the early seventeenth century, by the order of the Ottoman central authority, on the site where the caravan route from Kotor to Metohija intersected with the road that ran along the river Lim and across the Prokletije Mountains to Scutari. The newly-built for- tress, whose construction had been overseen by Bosnian Mustafa Pasha, had a permanent garrison tasked with watching and keeping in check restive tribes in northern Albania and Brda.13 Fortress Gusinje built in 1611 was subsequently enlarged, and in the eighteenth century had a permanent garrison with aghas and a captain. 7 V. Vinaver, “Trgovina Bara”, Istorijski zapisi 6/9, 2, p. 472; M. Lutovac, Privreda, saobraćaj i naselja u Rožaju i Bihoru (Belgrade: Državna štamparija, 1930), 32. 8 Dašić, Vasojevići, 100. 9 Šabanović, Bosanski pašaluk, 165. 10 Istorija Crne Gore, vol. III, 518. 11 Dašić, Vasojevići, 99, 100, 211. 12 Gligor Stanojević, “Pokret brdskih i albanskih plemena uoči Kandijskog rata”, Istoriski zapisi XVII (1960), 523–522; N. K. Kostić, Naši gradovi na jugu (Belgrade: Državna štamparija, 1922), 77. 13 Evlija Čelebija, Putopis (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1957), 261, 262, 385, 404. R. Šćekić, Ž. Leković & M. Premović, Political Developments 83 Over time the village below the fortress grew into a small town thanks to its position on a caravan route.14 During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Gusinje was not only a military but also a political and admin- istrative centre of the whole Upper Lim valley controlling the Vasojević tribal area. The fortress of Kolašin in the nahyie of Nikšići built by the Ottomans in the mid-seventeenth century had a permanent garrison which was sup- ported by the yearly tax (jizye) levied on the Christians of the nahiye of Peć. In judicial terms, it belonged to the kadilik of Prijepolje.15 The building and garrisoning of Kolašin strengthened the Ottoman feudal class in the Tara valley, creating “a fierce and deadly Muslim frontier” which exerted a strong pressure on the Orthodox areas of Rovca and Morača.16 There was also an Ottoman fortification on the Tara, on the site where the river was crossed by the trade route running from Risan via Onogošt and Jezero to Pljevlja.